Hong Kong Hotels
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First Attempt
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This will be the first time I have attempted to write down my thoughts and observations. Wish me success.
If you count Hong Kong as its own country, I have been to more countries in the last 3 weeks then I have been to in the last 21 years of my life (let's not count trips to Niagara Falls in that sentence). I left my hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on January 15th and came here to Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong. My itinerary was simple: flight was from PIT to JFK then the 16 hour flight from JFK to HK. I remember sitting in the airport at JFK looking around at the 30+ other students- some had there parents with them others were alone like me. Everyone was friendly but appeared to know someone else going on the trip. I knew one other person going and he decided to get to the airport last so flashbacks to the awkward "what's your name-where are you from-freshmen-year-orientation" entered my mind. It was going to be tough to memorize all of these names.
We board the plane finally after walking around JFK international terminal in search of food. Perhaps the gourmet pizza from some famous Chefs express restaurant would be the last I would eat before returning to America? Little did I know China pretty much worships the fast food chain Pizza Hut (I found this out in Beijing when I had to pay more money for a pizza then a classic Chinese meal). Everyday, I see a delivery person riding his motorcycle around HK with some Pizza Hut pizza in the back.
Around 7:40PM the next day, we arrive in HK. The flight was easy. Cathay Pacific (our airline) did a nice job. They had decent food, over 30 movie options (Suberbad, Rush Hour, Across the Universe etc), prime-time television shows (Heroes, Planet Earth), music, games and a web-cam attached to the bottom of the plane so we could get a great view from 1000's of feet up in the air. When we arrived in the HK airport and walked out of the terminal with my 2 bags weighing 53 pounds each, hundreds of Chinese were standing near the entrance. I took a bow because they appeared to be waiting for someone- they had no idea I was not a superstar.
I run over to the first Chinese restaurant I see. I order... let's just say I ordered something and someone was looking out for me because I was able to swallow it and didn't need to run to the bathroom right after. Not a great first experience. And here I thought I would be a big shot and be the first to try Chinese food. I quickly learned to be a follower and not such a leader in the area of food testing. From then on I let others try the food first and if it was good, I allowed myself to place an order. Three weeks later I have learned a secret- Beef and Noodles or Fried Rice is always a safe bet. Did you know they put pork in the tomato meat sauce!? The one food I do not eat and I can not escape wherever I go.
Everyone gets there luggage, we walk 10 minutes to a bus that is waiting for us outside the airport which takes us to the NTT international house where we would be living for the next 3 months. We are randomly assigned roommates and lucky for me I liked the guy I lived with. His name is Jesse, he also goes to Syracuse and is a brother in DEKE.
We would stay in HK for 3 days- orientation, signed up for classes, went to the bar district (LKF) for the first time, got a subway (the MTR) card, went to a night market on Temple Street, explored an area called Mong Kok (I bought a crazy sweatshirt on the street and saw a Syracuse University shirt there), ate at an authentic chinese restaurant, took a tour of the city and went to one of HK's highest points and went to a restaurant called JUMBO- it literally floats on water. (See pictures below)
On January 20th 2008 we left for a two-week China Seminar. Part of the Syracuse University abroad program in HK is a 3 credit Humanities course that entails a two-week traveling seminar throughout Mainland China. We traveled to Xi'an, Beijing and Shanghai where we saw the most important sites, attended lectures from our professor Dr. Caroline Tong and got to experience the cities in our own way at night.
I will write a separate entry which will have my itinerary from the seminar and some of my observations.
-Asher
Where I stayed:
NTT International House
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